Friday, May 22, 2015

Catherine LeDuke: 99 Years of Love



I cannot express my thanks enough to Lyle Lankford for the incredible tribute he paid to my Mother, Catherine LeDuke at her "last performance" on May 9, 2015. 
Catherine LeDuke's final play was a huge success by any measure used.  The set was provided by the Tiptonville Presbyterian Church.  Special effects did a superb job providing an afternoon break in the storm clouds between noon and 3 pm.  They even saw to it that the sun was present during much of that time both in front of the church at 1pm and later during her last scene at the Tiptonville Cemetery an hour and a half later.
Danny Cook played the part of the Funeral Director to perfection, musical score was provided by Lois Lockhart throughout the entire production, Services were conducted by the Reverend Walter Lockhart, who performed his role with all the confidence of one who could have been Catherine's lifelong Pastor. Flowers adorning the set were provided by Blooms and Things.  The six "key grips": Morris Himel,David Lovell, Tony Rhoades, Jerry Simmons, Ed Sumara, and Morris Himel III handled their duties well.

The supporting cast on the front pew behaved themselves despite being played by all Catherine's children.  Only minor equipment failures were reported to the prop department.  The church assured the producers of this play that "no one ever used the front pew anyway.". Grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, and former students made up the remainder of the supporting cast and played their parts well.
The star of the show, Miss Catherine, looked beautiful in her green gown worn only once before during her induction into the the Teacher's Hall of Fame.  The outfit has been officially retired and will not be worn by any other players.

The leading man in this production must be singled out for his outstanding role.  Lyle Landford, trained, tutored, and mentored by our star, gave a stellar performance in providing what everyone present has proclaimed to be the "Best Eulogy Ever".  How he was able to convey all the dialogue without breaking into tears is a testament to his professionalism and years of experience in putting the training provided by his early Tiptonville High School educators into practice.
It seems only fitting to make the entire eulogy, written by Lyle, available to all those who were not able to be present at Catherine LeDuke's last production.  No tribute ever written on this web-site can hold a candle to the beautiful words you have written and delivered so eloquently, Lyle.  My entire family thanks you from the bottom of our collective hearts.

    

Eulogy
for
“Miss” Catherine LeDuke
by
Lyle Lankford

Memorial Service
May 9, 2015
1:00 p.m.
Presbyterian Church
Tiptonville, TN



Amo, Amas, Amat;
Amamus, Amatis. Amant, Katharina!
We all love Catherine!

Where does one begin to eulogize the venerable, beloved Catherine LeDuke, one of the dearest and most influential women, not only in my life, but also in the lives of countless others?  I have chosen to begin with a description of “Miss” Catherine in the words of one of the wisest men ever to have lived.  King Solomon described her with these words, paraphrased only slightly:

An excellent woman, who can find?  For her worth is far above rubies.  Strength and dignity were “Miss” Catherine’s clothing, And she smiled at the future.  She opened her mouth in wisdom, And the teaching of kindness was on her tongue.  She looked well to the ways of her household, And did not eat the bread of idleness.  Cathie, Jimmy, Richard, and Sue rise up and bless her; “Mr.” James Neville also praised her, saying:  “Many women have done nobly, But you excelled them all.”  Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.  Give her the products of her hands, And let her works praise her in Tiptonville, Lake County, and Tennessee.

Appropriately, we honor this excellent woman here in her beloved church which she attended faithfully as long as health permitted.  It was here she taught Sunday school and served as an elder.  As Solomon said, she feared the Lord and could therefore smile at the future.  Her guidepost was the same as that of the apostle Paul, who wrote to the Philippians, “…I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.”  Practiced throughout her life as if in training, this motto served her well in later years as body and mind began to fail.  Still strength and dignity were her clothing.  When greeted by friends and adoring former students at Sunday lunch, ever the lady she had always been, her response was gracious with gratitude for the recognition and an added “I love you” or “How can I help you?”  What an inspiration she continued to be, even in the state in which she found herself late in life!

Her words of wisdom and teaching of kindness, both in and out of the classroom, both in and out of books, will continue to bear testimony to her excellence as a master educator for many years to come. As a teacher and mentor, she was unsurpassed.  Latin, English, and history she professed with masterful skill, but her influence, example, and inspiration went far beyond the cold facts of those subjects. She was a teacher of English, “extraordinaire.”  Hardly a day passes that I don’t sing the praises of one who insisted on endless grammar exercises, diagramming, and composition.  When I was required in my work at Vanderbilt to edit someone else’s writing, I would often think to myself – and sometimes aloud! – “You obviously did not have Catherine LeDuke for grammar!”

And, oh, the lovely literature to which she introduced us:  reading aloud to us short stories, poetry, and plays and even allowing us to experience the beauty of words through reading, and often reciting, aloud.  I still remember as though it were yesterday, her reading a short story which ended with the words, “I seen the little lamp,” and still get a lump in my throat.  I wish I could remember the title of that lovely story, I believe written by Katherine Anne Porter.

It was “Miss” Catherine who introduced us to Shakespeare with the reading of “Julius Caesar.”  In our senior year we read Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”  She chose to read the part of Lady Macbeth on the day we were reading the scene in which the line, “Out, out damn spot” appeared, to allay any embarrassment which might arise among us sheltered students!  What an innocent age in which we grew up!  What happened to those days?!

 And then there was drama, which she chose to add to her schedule as an extra-curricular activity.  She brought out of a bunch of “country kids” talent they only dreamed of having!  And that, I know from experience, takes “talent!”  I credit her for teaching me how to slurp coffee from a saucer, a valuable lesson in life!  And I shall never forget the night she taught Marie Rogers (Huffstutter) how to walk like an “old woman,” which I’m sure Marie will find to be a valuable lesson!  “Miss” Catherine’s extra work in forming and directing a drama club at the Tiptonville High School was a labor of love which is still remembered with gratitude.

Having lived through two world wars, she was passionate about the teaching of American history.  We stood and repeated the “Pledge of Allegiance” to the flag daily.  Patriotism was taught with fervor.  Exploration of our country’s history certainly enhanced my appreciation for what had transpired in our past and how it continues to shape our present and future.  At the end of that year of American history, “Miss” Catherine gave each one of us a small American flag, which I still have among my treasured souvenirs.

But my most valued treasure is the blessing of having grown-up in the 50’s and 60’s in a little west Tennessee town where I was inspired by mentors like Catherine and James Neville LeDuke and others, including, of course, my own parents.  And how many hundreds of times could this statement be multiplied!  A teacher’s influence is immeasurable, and, of course, often unknown.  On Wednesday, I attended the funeral of one of my high school classmates, Fredricka Robertson Schleifer.  At that service, two of Fredricka’s former speech students paid tribute to her, but were they not unknowingly also paying tribute to Fredricka’s mentors as well?  Influence is never ending, being passed on from one generation to the next.  As Thomas Campbell wrote in his poem, “Hallowed Ground,”  “To live in the hearts of those we leave behind is not to die.”

“Miss” Catherine’s expertise in her chosen profession was acknowledged on many occasions, but perhaps the most prestigious was being recognized and rewarded as one of the initial inductees into the Tennessee Teachers Hall of Fame.  It was with great pride and much pleasure that I could be present on that celebratory evening.  Her works did, and still do, “follow her.”

 In addition to her brilliant career as an educator, she became an avid photographer in later life; was a fifty year member of the Eastern Star; a lifetime member of Delta Kappa Gamma; an active member of the Lake County Historical Society; and the first chairman of the Lake County Primary Care Center.  Let us take comfort in the words of the apostle John as he writes in the book of Revelation:  “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:  Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.”

Then there was her own “household” to which she did look and cook and clean!  She could not eat the bread of idleness.  She was a teacher after all!  There were many, many papers to grade, compositions to correct, and tests to be written between supper and bedtime and on Saturdays too!  While her children and husband helped, a mother and teacher’s work is never done.

Everyone in the LeDuke family had their jobs to do in the home.  But love being the underpinning of that home made for contentment and happiness if not always solitude and sanity!  And her children, Cathie, Jimmy, and Richard, none the worse for ware, do rise up and call her blessed, as well as her faithful friend and honorary daughter, Sue Hurst, whose special care has no doubt added many years of contentment and happiness to “Miss” Catherine’s life, as well as assurance and peace of mind to her other children.  Bless all of you!

Catherine Frazier Patty, a beautiful, intelligent young woman born and raised in Memphis, stole the heart of a handsome, intelligent young man born and raised in the tiny town of Tiptonville one hundred miles to the north.  The story is told that they fell in love under a tree in Memphis, and from that moment on neither was the same!  The love letters which they exchanged over the next several years were discovered by Jimmy and recreated in a book by him and his daughter Amanda..  “James Neville and Catherine: A Love Story” attests to the fact that each loved the other with an intensity rivaling the famed romance of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  So naturally, James Neville would have praised his Catherine saying, “Many women have done nobly, but you have excelled them all.”  And I can hear him now as he would interpret the words, “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain.”  “A little powder, a little paint makes a girl look like what she ain’t!”  There was no pretension in his Catherine.

Humor and the LeDuke family are synonymous.  “Mr.” James Neville and “Miss” Catherine played off of each other.  They worked well together.  The result was always good humor and fun.  “Miss” Catherine was like a “mother” to many of us offering wise counsel along with firm, but loving, discipline.  But in addition, she was the “real” mother of my best friend, and therefore, I was introduced to the LeDuke family early in life.  I shall never forget the first meal I ever ate in their home.  It was one of the “happiest meals” I have the pleasure of remembering.  This was long before McDonalds’ version of a “Happy Meal,” which pales in comparison!  We literally laughed our way through that delicious dinner of pot roast, rice, and gravy!  I, to this day, am not sure what tilted our tickle boxes!  But I do know that this family brought good humor to Tiptonville and Lake County for decades, and it will be sorely missed.

Where does one end a eulogy to the beloved, venerable Catherine LeDuke?  I’ll let her answer that question.  When we were asked to write a paper in her class, of course, a teenager’s first question is “How long does it have to be?”  I vividly recall her sage advice given over fifty years ago:  “Like the girl’s skirt,” she said.  “Long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to make it interesting!”  Well, since “covering the subject” would require more yards of verbal fabric than I have the time or the talent to weave, I’ll opt for “interesting!”  And that was extremely easy, for her blessed life as a devoted wife, mother, teacher, and model citizen has  been extremely interesting.

One of “Miss” Catherine’s favorite past times in later life was reading and having poetry read to her.  Jimmy tells me that often as he read poetry to her, she would begin reciting the poem he was reading.  Is that not amazing?  Should we not all be memorizing some beautiful poem or scripture to store in our memory banks? 

Perhaps following the untimely death of her beloved “Duke,” she memorized the second sonnet from George Santayana’s poem entitled “To W.P.”  Jimmy also told me that not many days ago his mother started reciting this poem as he began reading:

With you a part of me hath passed away;
For in the peopled forest of my mind
A tree made leafless by this wintry wind
Shall never don again its green array.
Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,
Have something of their friendliness resigned;
Another, if I would, I could not find,
And I am grown much older in a day.
But yet I treasure in my memory
Your gift of charity, your mellow ease,
And the dear honour of you amity;
For these once mine, my life is rich with these.
And I scarce know which part may greater be –
What I keep of you, or you rob of me.

Amo, Amas, Amat;
Amamus, Amatis, Amant, Katharina!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jimmy LeDuke (I'd love to hear from you...feel free to comment below, or click HERE to send me an e-mail.)


Thursday, May 14, 2015

Life goes on... And then it doesn't

Mother in her favorite chair holding her wedding dress
The sweet
Miss Catherine LeDuke actually left us several years ago......That is to say the Catherine LeDuke most all of us knew and adored.  She left behind a struggling mind and body that was lovingly cared for by her closest companion and friend, Nettie Sue Hurst.  Often our family would field the question:  "How did ya'll get so lucky to have Sue be in your mother's life?"  The answer is the one that Sue has repeated many times.  
The ridiculous

It was sheer coincidence Sue had made a decision to move back to Lake County that same summer of '77 that James Neville passed away.  Mother, never one to sit and dwell over that which she has no control over, was accepting an invitation from Cousin Kathleen Downs to take a trip to Europe.  Remember, Mother lived by one of her favorite bible verses found in Philippians 4:11: "For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."  And Mother was content to go to Europe.  So she asked Sue if she would mind doing a little "house sitting" since she had not yet settled on where she was going to live since her return to Tiptonville.  Sue has been house sitting for over 38 years and we have encouraged her to continue in the place she has called home longer than any of us that hit the road after High School.

A week after Mother officially left this world for that far better place we all know she is now in, I find myself struggling with her favorite Philippians verse.  I simply do not have her strength of character, her quiet resolve, her stoic demeanor.  I am not yet "content" to be in this "state" where even the "shell" of Catherine LeDuke is no longer available to be with, to read poetry to and be amazed by her ability to recite many lines from deep within her functionally failed memory, to listen to her occasional chant: "Who am I, Where am I, What do I need to be doing next?"  We miss being able to answer: "You are Catherine LeDuke; You are in your own living room in your favorite chair in the house you built with James Neville; And you don't have to do anything except sit and look pretty and be an inspiration to us all."

She can still be an inspiration to us all, but I fear that when I break out of my "funk" and resume rebuilding my driveway, cleaning out my storage shed, re-organizing my office, hauling bags of mulch for Marty to use in her new garden areas, and all the other mundane chores that say: "Life goes on!", the memory of Catherine LeDuke will begin to fade; the pain I feel at the "now" complete loss of her will subside, the tears that I occasionally shed because I have more of James Neville's emotional genes flowing in me than Catherine's strong, quiet, controlled ones will begin to dry up.

As many of my friends have told me in the last few weeks, Catherine LeDuke did not teach English and Latin; she taught Life.  And "life" will go just as mother taught us, until it doesn't.  And we must be content with whatsoever state we are in.

I know Mother is very content now.  I just hope I can be soon.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jimmy LeDuke (I'd love to hear from you...feel free to comment below, or click HERE to send me an e-mail.)











  

Thursday, May 7, 2015

"I Done Her In!!" A Tale of Catherine's Last Ride


About three weeks ago Sue called me to tell me that both of Mother’s caregivers were about to have surgery; Linda Wheat was having eye surgery and would be out for a week and Betty Campbell was going to Union City for more critical surgery and would be out of commission for 6 to 8 weeks.  So I hopped on my horse and headed north to help Sue with Mother and assist her in finding some additional folks to come in and sit with Mother.


We put out the word and found a real gem in Penny Hughes who would come in and assist Sue mainly during the afternoon and early evening hours.  When Linda returned from her cataract surgery to take care of daytime caregiving, and with Penny now filling in for Betty while she was recuperating from getting sliced open, I made plans to return to Atlanta on Tuesday the 21st of April.  Soooooo, Monday afternoon following a pretty good lunch with Mother the story of "how I done her in" began.

About two o'clock I started wiring her up with a medium-size ice cream cone and then asked her if she would like to take a walk with me downtown.  She actually asked me "Well, how would we do that?"  I told her all she had to do was let me assist her into the wheelchair that is kept nearby and I would roll her right down the ramp built at her front door a few years ago and off we would go.  The only word Mother ever needs to hear is "go"; destination has never been important. So with a warm coat on and a lap blanket in place, we headed toward Peacock's Florist Shop and Peoples Grocery store... at least that's what use to be across the street from Dr. Smithe's Office.

Mother and I actually made this trip several times last summer, but this was the first day in quite a few months that the weather was warm enough to venture out.  When we got across the street to about where the Lake County Banner office is now located, I could tell she was really enjoying the outing.  Whomever is responsible for the downtown improvements sure deserves a big hand!  The side walks and street crossings are very wheelchair-friendly.  The occasional park benches along the way make it possible for "old chair pushers" to sit down and rest.  

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Catherine Frazier Patty LeDuke -- 1916-2015. Mother, Wife, Teacher, Friend.

Hello all, this is Amanda LeDuke, Jimmy's daughter.  We wanted to let everyone know that Catherine passed away this morning, May 6th, in the home she lived in for 75 years.  We will post the official obituary soon, and will surely be posting more remembrances here, but in the meantime, we encourage you to leave your memories of her here and also suggest you visit read through some of these blog postings... there are lots of pictures and good stories worth reading about this amazing woman.



Visitation will be held at the Tiptonville Chapel of the Dyersburg Funeral Home Chapel at 405 Church Street, Tiptonville, TN from 5:00-8:00 pm on Friday, May 8.  The funeral will be held at Tiptonville First Presbyterian Church on Saturday, May 9. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To contact Jimmy directly, email him HERE